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Mothers Burnout: What It Looks Like
Burnout is the state of complete mental, physical and emotional exhaustion. There has been a lot of discussion about professional burnout and today I am looking at parental burnout. Hubert and Aujoulat (2018) interviewed five mothers who stated the all-encompassing reason for their burnout was fear. They feared they were not good enough mothers, lack of control, and discontinuity of self. The women were overinvested in their children and would cater to their needs to the point of exhaustion.
Perfectionism
The mothers felt a great sense of duty. They were unsure of their ability to be good mothers and were very demanding of themselves. Some would set goals that were so high they were unachievable, and when these goals were not met, felt like failures. Others did not believe in their ability to be a good mother and continually attempt to do better.
Self-Pressure
These women had built-in ideals of what it meant to be perfect, gained through social norms or their own self-pressure. They would have values in which they had a strong sense of self-pressure. One mother had the built-in value that families should eat together so rose an hour early to do this, even though her children would get breakfast at childcare.
